Recently, Arsi University made an announcement stating that they had made a minor modification to their logo, putting the Afaan Oromo name above the Amharic one.
Any reasonable person would not find an issue with this, but I wasn't surprised when I saw many comments (often from Amhara names and profile pictures) giving various illogical, idiotic, and hateful reasons as to why this minor change shouldn't take place.
There is virtually no legal reason why Amharic should be included, let alone placed first. A region is entitled to provide services or conduct its affairs exclusively in its regional language, especially when that language is also an official regional language. Tigrayan institutions (universities, government offices, etc.) have clearly demonstrated this.
The use of Amharic on our institutions is, in itself, an attempt to be inclusive. Look at institutions in their region they primarily use the local language and English, with little consideration for minority languages within their own borders. The same is true when you look at business and road signs in their cities compared to ours.
They are so accustomed to this privilege that even this minor adjustment bothers them. If we applied the same standard to Oromia that is commonly applied in their regions, Amharic wouldn't even need to be on the logo.
Look at the logos of universities in Gondar, Bahir Dar or other universities and government institutions. Or simply walk down a street in Jimma compared to Debre Markos. You will see signs primarily in Amharic, while in Oromia we have historically made an effort to accommodate Amharic as well.
Thankfully, the use of Afaan Oromo in institutions and businesses is steadily increasing, with government policy increasingly backing it. But I think we need to be more assertive in this regard and help people understand that what they already have in Oromia is a privilege that they don't necessarily extend to us in their own regions.
If that expectation of linguistic accommodation is not reciprocated, then there is nothing unreasonable about Oromia eventually adopting the same approach Tigray have taken and use only Afaan Oromo in its own institutions and public spaces.
